“What you have in India you have in no other country,” he replied. “In this republic there are rights. We can demand our rights, speak out. In other countries: eat, drink and shut up. Go to Saudi Arabia: you can’t speak. There is Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Iraq, Iran. These things are nowhere. They are all dictatorships.”

Indian democracy should not work. Democracy brings little to the poor, the state is corrupt, politicians lack principles and ideas. Yet we as citizen with no reason to hope continue to believe, vote, speak, petition for better India.

It states on its first page: In Memory of the lives of 15 Makkah Schoolgirls, lost when their school burnt down on Monday, 11th March, 2002. The Religious Police would not allow them to leave the building, nor allow the Firemen to enter.

That shivered me deep inside and I dig the digital archives for complete archaeological survey. The blogger has been commenting on Saudi Arabia, off and on, for two years. I have read it completely now and the whole trauma of horrifying real life stories is not going way. Power, Politics, Money and Religion have clubbed together for violation of each good emotions, humanity stands for. It has confirm my worst fears that we humans are living in dystopian society. Here is living example of George Orwell's "1984" in this world. A concrete jungle made on petro dollars..

And then I just cherish in vanity that I have taken birth in India. How lucky I am to have freedom and human rights.......

14 comments:

Really, We should be grateful that we are not born in Iran or Iraq... Once I have also watched a documentry in which a 17 year girl was hanged on the charges of Immorality(according to their standards) by their so called moral police in Iran. How shocking and awful it is!... I always feel, Democracy is always better than Theocracy....

Even in our country there are human rights violations. The women do not enjoy equal rights and dalits and other ethnic minorities are discriminated against.Still,when I hear about such horror stories in other parts of the world,I feel indeed glad that we have been born in India.

Amit.. i have stopped thanking you for your comments.. you are more or less a part of the blog. Moral policing is worse than anything, it takes away freedom to think and oppose rational. Democracy is always better than Theocracy....

Aparna, Welcome on the blog and thanks for the comment. Violation of human rights are everywhere but at Saudi Arabia it is horrible situation.Just go and read the given blog, you will know about limit of discrmination and blind faith.

Nimmy, don't get me wrong but no country become great because we are born in it. Saudi land is as holy as ours but few narrow minded people had make it hell. What hitler has done for germany in making it racially pious, Saud family is doing same there in making it as religiously pure. You say it perfectly to the point that we have flaws and errors, but wehave hope. You had your experinces of middle east life. Can you share it through your blog?And much thanks for your valuable opinion.

Welcome joie di vivre. In the country where people don't know their rights,no one can ever

tradition ko ek saans mein kah jaate hain. Ek baat kah raha hoon, (take it in positive sense): we don't have good teachers or people who can taught us by example about "fundamental rights mentioned in book". just take it as example--

"We should also clarify that just as illiteracy is not the problem, the 50 percent of the citizens who are illiterate are not the problem. They are not the ones holding back the development and prosperity of the country. Blaming them would be akin to blaming the patients and the victims.The fact of the matter is that India is a grossly mismanaged country. And the ones who have been in charge of mismanaging the country are its literate, not its illiterate, citizens. Let us grant for the moment that it is part of this mismanagement that is manifested in the illiteracy of half the population. So the question we have to ask is why the literate managers have failed to impart literacy to the still illiterate citizens?"

Let us give it a try to make life more meaningful, even if is small as well as in different & inéquitable horizons. Things will change for sure.. wait and watch.

Saudi Arabia or India is like choosing between horse shit and bull shit. Since I (being Indian) love arguments, debates, aimless verbal jousts to make an obvious point and chicken tikka, I guess I'm happy to be stuck with bull shit.

We tend to take all our liberties for granted.This doesn't mean we should not strive to improve it.....We are better than many....but there's still along way to go..India with all its idiosyncrasies have something for eveyone....Here's what Mark Twain had to say about Indiahttp://notrawketscience.blogspot.com/